Back To Isometrics

             It is of great value to practice Isometrics but also to practice pertaining to your goals. They are the key to tendon and speed strength and give you some of that extra juice of explosive power that can be beneficial to your training. It doesn't matter if you’re a lifter or a bodyweight enthusiast or a sports athlete, Isometrics give those little muscles the fire they need to burn through your plateaus and give your body a reason to be injury free. Many people suffer injuries because of weak tendons so why give them that strength to put us through life that can keep us young and vibrant?

            Isometrics when done right takes quite a bit of concentration and gives into that inner connection you have between mind and muscle. There are many ways to do them but when you do them right, it’s like a surge of electricity running through your body like very few things can and feels incredible. Muscle Control is a great way to do isometric training because you’re concentrating on individual muscles by contracting and relaxing. Certain holds or postures work as isometrics like in Yoga such as the Wheel Pose, holding Warrior 1, Cobra, these are examples of Isometric Postures that can gain you strength from within. Isometrics have been used for countless centuries and as we evolved we learned how to breathe during certain holds.

            Some of the simplest exercises can turn into a hardcore workout or a relaxing workout depending on what you do and think and feel. Think holding a horse stance is easy; ok try it out, squat down just a little bit hold your arms out and just sit there say maybe 1 min. Not easy is it? How about the push-up, most call this a plank but not what I want you to do. Most people put their forearms down and not use their hands, I want you to get into a full push-up position, back is straight, hands on the floor and the torso and legs are as straight as possible. Now hold for 30 seconds. Again, not so easy is it? What most don’t understand is that Isometrics build internal strength, the ability to hold a position without moving a muscle yet muscles are firing all over the place and in turn will build tendon strength.

            Your breathing patterns are going to determine how your strength proceeds. Deep breathing is the key to holding certain postures but when you exert so much force you won’t last that long. If you wanted to hold say for 7-10 seconds, what you can do is breathe in and on the exhale make a “sssss” sound as you contract as much as you can without hurting yourself, don’t ever hold the breath when you do isometrics, this can cause bad flow to the body and can result in injury. Breathe deeply into your exercise and experiment doing different positions, different exertions of strength, hold at 30% or less force so you can hold for as long as you want. If you plan on hitting 100% of your strength it’ll only last maybe 2 seconds because any longer can probably hurt you.

            One of the key strongmen to understand Isometrics is the legendary Steve Justa. He practically knows more about isometrics than anyone in the world maybe next to Bruce Lee but he knows things most people are just now figuring out yet he’s been doing it of and on for 20+ years. Check him out here and learn his secrets to superhuman strength using the power of Isometrics. You guys are awesome and deserve to be in great health and have great strength to back it up. Isometrics can be used by anybody and can be done anywhere and anytime, make it a habit to do some form of isometric training at least a few minutes a day. It is one of the key secrets to life-long health internally and externally as your body will begin to show definition and muscle you have never seen before and your strength will shoot through the roof. Keep up the great work everyone.

Visualization And Why It Helps Increase Your Strength

           What you see is far different from how you feel. We usually begin things by a thought. How we see that thought is different for everyone but a common entity is that if you see, feel it and give into its power, it can generate your strength in ways you have never imagined. In the field of strength and fitness, most people just go around cutting corners, dragging their sorry asses along and don’t give any real thought to how they can find within themselves the power to generate what they want to happen. There’s a whole other world in visualizing what you want.

            To really understand the power of visualization, you can’t just think of something and just act on it in my opinion; it’s really digging deep into the very core of your soul. To see is to feel, to see is to dream it, to see it, it consumes you and you control what you want to see. It’s not easy because not everyone can see inside themselves. When you see something, what are you doing, where are you and how do you want to achieve it? The basics of Visualization is to go into a near trance-like state and you can do this with your eyes open or closed whatever you prefer but also when you’re in this trance, learn to block out the outside world and focus on what matters most.

            One of my favorite Visualizations is what’s called Theater Of The Mind; it teleports you into a movie theater that can be as big as you want. It gives you freedom to see whatever you want to achieve no matter how big or how small, it’s your time, your movie and your own endeavor. Some people see just themselves in the theater, watching themselves at their best and they’re by themselves without anyone around. For me, it’s a little out there. When I walk into the Theater Of My Mind, I actually sit next to someone and it’s not just a random person. I picture sitting next to someone that may have passed on that I admire or more frequently it’s one of the gods or goddesses of Mount Olympus or Greek/Norse/Irish Mythology such as Zeus, Hercules, Thor, Pan, Aphrodite and whoever shows up. They help me on my journey and channel my intuition. In Greek or Latin stories of the gods, it is said that the gods visit mortals in their dreams.

            Very few can see but the rest don’t know how to use their imagination and look into the very heart of what they want. When you look into your mind what you want whether it’s to be stronger, more athletic, win a game, score a touchdown, hit a homerun, break a world record or whatever it is you desire, feel it as if you were there at the front lines, people cheering you and you are the king/queen of your own arena. Sense the atmosphere, feel the surge of energy that makes you victorious, see the smiles of your loved ones as they congratulate your successes and your peers admiring your courage and strength. These are all the examples of what you can create in your visualizations, you have the power to create whatever you desire and no one can take that away from you.

            Go beyond what you see, feel more powerful in that moment in time, destroy all your obstacles and turn yourself into a person you want to be the most, see yourself at your best and see how far you can push it in the future. There are no limits, there is no darkness in the tunnel, you are shining bright and it burns those that stand in your way. Throw yourself into the stratosphere, beyond the stars, shoot through planets, become a universe of strength and vitality that makes everything you desire become simpler, easier and more powerful. You have it in you and it’s waiting to be unleashed.  

Evolution Through Mythology

My Judo sensei once said to me, “a man’s reach must exceed his grasp, or else what’s a heaven for?” He was telling me about his old training schedule, the weights he used to lift, and the body weight exercises his sensei would demand that he perform. I was awestruck, doing 500 pushups, or bodyweight squats in one day? At the time I could not conceive that such a thing could even be possible.

His Judo sensei was a member of the Iroquois nation of native peoples, and while they would train he would tell them the stories about mythical warrior Hiawatha. Hiawatha is said to have wrestled the unconquerable Bear of the West the gatekeeper to the realm of the dead to a draw. Hiawatha is supposed to been able to paddle a cannon with such ferocity that he could change the course of rivers, outrun day light so he could continue speaking with the spirits of the night, and shoot twenty arrows into the sky before the first one came back to touch the ground.

Was my Judo sensei actually supposed to believe that Hiawatha preformed such supernatural feats? Well, no, but also yes, within the appropriate context. His sensei was doing from him what the Iroquois elders did for the young up, and coming warrior-braves; inspiring them to forever keep their reach exceeding their grasp. By telling the stories of Hiawatha the young warrior-braves felt encouraged to test themselves over, and over again. They sought to become as fast as the wind, and as strong as a bear. Like Hiawatha, these represent subjective units of measure. How fast is the wind? How strong is a bear? How powerful is Hiawatha? The answer will always be faster, stronger, and more powerful than you are currently. So you must always seek to improve, be better, and achieve greater.

The heroes of mythologies are meant to spark something deep within us, to light a fire that we could use to courageously explore the depth of our souls, and inner recesses of our minds. As we immerge from our own dark psychic forest, we return from what Joseph Campbell termed the “hero’s journey”, and we now have been remade more in the image what we individually believe heroic to be. These heroes are symbols and as such are mutable. They can be changed to fit societal needs, but still represent the values deemed virtuous by an entire collective, and heritage of peoples.

In my own studies of mythologies, I began perhaps intuitively, to feel as if the writers of these sagas where speaking not only across time, but speaking to more than just ancient superstitions. I started to see a deep, if not hidden wisdom within the stories. Thor’s magic glove which translates to “Iron Grip”, and his belt which literally means “earth’s power”, are what enabled him to wield his famous hammer. In order for a man to be mighty like Thor, he would need to train his hands into possessing a vice-like grip, and obtain a well develop lower back, and legs. In reading the works of old-time strongmen I found this confirmed many times. The key to superhuman strength is found in grip strength straining, and focusing on heavy lifting exercises such as dead lifting, squats, and swings.

What transpired next was an immersive study into the mythologies, and hero legends from around the world. This was the impetus of Heroic Evolution and its strength training programs.

However I wanted not only to share quality strength training, but also to promote the qualities of having good character, or at least an examined character. What is the purpose of being strong in the first place? That is a question that has a dizzying amount of potential responses, and is for the trainee to explore for themselves if they wish, and certainly worthwhile if they do.

The stories of heroes like Hiawatha, or even King Arthur, set forth a code of conduct, as well as I believe, contain physical training protocol that where meant to be discovered by young members of different warrior societies. These stories are laced with clues in not only how to get strong, tough, and fast, but also what to do with that formidability in their society, and how to act appropriately.

Embodying one of these mythological heroes is a life changing process. The hero exists only inside you, and to go within to find them is actually to find your greater potential. The exploits of the hero can never be matched; but the hero doesn’t care, as the point is that you attempt. It is in the fierce attempts at the impossible that we discover just how amazing we can be. The hero can’t ever judge you, and thereby this places all the responsibility back on you. How do you feel about your efforts? Do you feel you are meant for something greater? Do you believe you can, or should, do better in whatever endeavor you have chosen? 

Your answer to these questions can be sobering indeed.

Mythologies allow us to glimpse into our own lives, the roles we, and those around us fill. We all live out a certain “personal” mythology whether we are conscious of it, or not. The simple truth of the matter is that if we don’t like the story we are living we need to change it. The strength to change it comes through becoming our own greatest hero, by moving past our own perceived limitations, and reaching into our infinite potential to grasp at something we never dreamed we were capable of until we found the courage to try.

-Kevin Wikse

www.heroicevolution.com